a "fool" (afrwn, v. 14). This correlation between enemy

and fool is the most explicit encountered in any of the wisdom literature thus far. Job was accused by Elihu of being a wicked man because of his speaking without knowledge or insight. Sirach tightens the identification by describ- ing a fool (vv. 14-15c) and clinching his saying with "such a one is a hateful man" (v. 15d).

The fwr-Group

The designation fwr, from which this category of

enemies takes its heading, is complicated in Sirach by the fact that three words rather than one are commonly used by the LXX to translate it. Most often, fwr is rendered by

asebhj ("ungodly, profane").188 The other two words which frequently translate fwr are amartwloj ("sinner" )189 and anomoj ("lawless").190 it is, therefore, not